


The Hidden Garden

by AnselaJonla



Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-18
Updated: 2011-01-18
Packaged: 2017-10-14 22:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/154390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnselaJonla/pseuds/AnselaJonla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quiet picnic in an abandoned garden turns slightly strange.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hidden Garden

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [](http://community.livejournal.com/merlinxarthur/profile)[**merlinxarthur**](http://community.livejournal.com/merlinxarthur/) [fanfic challenge #5](http://community.livejournal.com/merlinxarthur/2926506.html). Betaed by the supremely awesome [](http://agenttrojie.livejournal.com/profile)[**agenttrojie**](http://agenttrojie.livejournal.com/).

  
  
  
  
**Entry tags:**   
|   
[-merlin](http://ruri-iro-kujaku.livejournal.com/tag/-merlin), [.arthur pendragon](http://ruri-iro-kujaku.livejournal.com/tag/.arthur%20pendragon), [.merlin](http://ruri-iro-kujaku.livejournal.com/tag/.merlin), [:arthur/merlin](http://ruri-iro-kujaku.livejournal.com/tag/%3Aarthur%2Fmerlin), [rating: pg](http://ruri-iro-kujaku.livejournal.com/tag/rating%3A%20pg)  
  
---|---  
  
_**The Hidden Garden**_  
 **Title:** The Hidden Garden  
 **Author:** Ansela Jonla  
 **Fandom:** Merlin  
 **Rating:** PG  
 **Characters:** Arthur/Merlin, OFC  
 **Warnings:** none  
 **Summary:** A quiet picnic in an abandoned garden turns slightly strange.  
 **Word count:** 1550  
 **Notes:** Written for the [](http://community.livejournal.com/merlinxarthur/profile)[**merlinxarthur**](http://community.livejournal.com/merlinxarthur/) [fanfic challenge #5](http://community.livejournal.com/merlinxarthur/2926506.html). Betaed by the supremely awesome [](http://agenttrojie.livejournal.com/profile)[**agenttrojie**](http://agenttrojie.livejournal.com/).

“Come _on_ , Merlin,” Arthur said, every time Merlin fell behind, as if it was easy for Merlin to keep up with Arthur’s speed and grace while burdened down with picnic basket and blanket. As if Arthur hadn’t pushed Merlin against a tree as soon as they were out of sight in the forest and kissed him until Merlin had thought his knees would turn to water. “It’s not far now, Merlin.”

“You’ve been saying that for ages,” Merlin muttered. He added, loud enough for Arthur to hear “Are you sure you’re not lost?”

“Of course I’m not lost. I don’t get _lost_. I merely get a bit... turned around.” Arthur darted ahead, effortlessly leaping over fallen tree trunks, and called back to Merlin. “Here! Hurry up, Merlin. I knew I was going the right way. Hurry _up_.”

Merlin followed in Arthur’s wake as best he could, wondering what could have got Arthur so excited. The trees thinned as he caught up to Arthur, giving way to what looked like a formal garden that had been left untended and grown wild. Thick hedges bordered overgrown flowerbeds, and stone benches stood covered by fallen blossoms from the trees that sheltered them.

It was wild and neglected, but Merlin thought it was all the more beautiful for it; nature winning back her own from the hands of the men that had thought to tame her.

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” Arthur asked, grinning madly. He was lounging on a bench under the nearest tree, his hands cushioning his head against the trunk. “An abandoned garden, just for us.”

Arthur rolled to his feet and stalked over to Merlin, gently tugging the picnic basket from his hand. “We’re alone here. I asked; no one even knows there’s a garden here, so we won’t be disturbed at all.”

\--

The picnic hadn’t suffered from Merlin’s scrambling to keep up with Arthur, and even the bottle of wine had made the journey without being smashed to pieces; Merlin threw a smug look at Arthur over this small victory, remembering how Arthur had fretted to be gone and snapped at Merlin for wasting time while Merlin carefully wrapped the wine bottle in a shawl before placing it in the basket.

Relaxation was something that neither of them had time for, in the normal course of things. So when the opportunity for some presented itself, they didn’t spurn it. Lying on the banks of a quiet lake in the middle of an abandoned formal garden, Arthur half-asleep in Merlin’s arms, they enjoyed the silence of the day.

A scream, close by and female, jolted them back to alertness. Arthur pushed himself away from Merlin and started for the sword belt that lay abandoned to one side. Merlin rolled over to follow him, rising to one knee until Arthur signalled for him to stay put.

“Hello?” Arthur called. “Is someone out there?” Merlin couldn’t see anyone no matter how hard he looked among the hedges that bordered the lakeside lawn. Arthur obviously couldn’t either, even when he went and poked at them with his sword, venturing into the maze long enough that Merlin feared he’d got lost, as he eventually wandered back to the picnic blanket and collapsed back down with a huff.

The second interruption came not long after, as Arthur jokingly pinned Merlin down and pressed a piece of cake against his lips. A knight, his face hidden by his helmet and his livery unfamiliar to the two of them, burst out of the entrance to the garden maze, blood dripping from his sword and his hand covering a rent in the chainmail over his stomach. He glanced from side to side before stumbling towards the grove to the west, appearing to have somehow overlooked Arthur and Merlin by the lake.

Arthur sprang to his feet, cursing and grabbing his sword as he followed the knight. Merlin trailed after him, a spell on his lips and magic bubbling beneath his skin as he wondered where this strange knight had come from and who had wounded him. If his enemies were also enemies of Camelot, then they could all be in danger.

Against all the odds, they somehow lost sight of the strange knight in the trees. Merlin couldn’t understand how; even he could have tracked a single wounded man through such light cover. Arthur was having an even harder time accepting that they’d lost such easy quarry, and he kicked at stones and tufts of grass all the way back to the lakeside.

The eerie sobbing that started as soon as they left the trees didn’t seem to help Arthur’s mood at all.

“What is going on here?” Arthur grumbled, selecting an apple from the basket. He tossed it from hand to hand as he stared at Merlin. “Maybe there’s a reason this place was abandoned. Screams from nowhere, wounded knights that just vanish and _can whoever is crying please just stop it?!_ ”

The crying did not stop.

Merlin’s fingers were sticky with plum juice when the next apparition appeared. Merlin had to elbow Arthur, who was watching Merlin’s fingers intently, to get him to notice the finely-dressed lady standing at the entrance to the maze.

She beckoned to them and turned away. Both men scrambled to their feet to follow her, determined not to let this one vanish on them. She led them through the maze, disappearing from their sight but always appearing again at the junctions she wished them to take.

“Where is she leading us?” Arthur scowled and shook his head. “Stay behind me, Merlin. If it’s a trap, I want you to run for it. Head for Camelot and bring the other knights here. But _only_ if it’s a trap.”

Merlin didn’t think it was. It didn’t feel like one. He couldn’t explain why he was so certain, but he was. There was no point in arguing with Arthur when he was so determined though, and Merlin just nodded in agreement.

Eventually they emerged into an area filled with overgrown flowerbeds. There was only the one entrance to the circle. Two objects dominated the clearing; a overgrown stone shelter for groups to sit and talk out of the sun and rain, and a tombstone with a stone angel leaning over it, her face buried in her arms as if she was weeping.

“Forgive me for not speaking before, my lord,” the woman eventually said, “but my power grows weaker every day, and I simply could not speak before. You have questions?”

“Yes. For one, who are you? Who is buried there? And what’s going on here?”

“I am Ayleth, I was a sorceress in the court of King Uther of Camelot.” Arthur tensed at the mention of magic, waving Merlin back to the entrance to the clearing. Merlin shook his head in refusal, moving instead to stand by Arthur’s side. “I was forced to flee when he turned against all who practiced magic. That is the tomb of my lover, Sir Alistair, one of Uther’s knights. He refused to turn on me when the purge began, and for that his execution was ordered as well. We fled to this garden, but Alistair was mortally wounded defending me. There was nothing I could do for him, I never studied the healing arts. All I could do was hold him and pray that no one would find us.

And so my magic responded, with a power I’d never dreamed of being able to command. As his last breath faded a tomb sprung up around him, and I felt this garden fade from the view of those who meant us harm. Since then no one has managed to enter this sanctuary. No one but you, my prince.”

“You know who I am?”

“How do you know who he is?” Arthur glared at Merlin for speaking over him, and pulled him back so that he was shielding Merlin from the sorceress’ sight.

“Yes, though I know not how. Forgive me for saying this, my lord, but I have a message that I must give to you before I can leave this place.”

“What is it?”

Merlin rolled his eyes at the suspicious tone in Arthur’s voice; what possible harm could a ghost do to them after all?

“You will be a great king, Arthur Pendragon, not just for Camelot but for all of Albion. But to do this, you must follow your heart.”

“Follow my heart? What does tha- hey, wait. Don’t go. You can’t just give me a riddle like that and vanish.”

A gust of wind blew around the pair as Ayleth faded into nothingness.

“She’s gone, Arthur.”

“I can see that, Merlin. I wonder what she meant by that.” Arthur shrugged and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Either it’ll become clear in time, or it was the mad ravings of an insane sorceress.”

“You don’t believe that, do you? That she was insane?”

Arthur shoved Merlin playfully, before pulling him back and putting an arm around his shoulders. “I... don’t know. Sometimes I think that maybe, just maybe, magic might not be all that bad.”


End file.
